The trailblazing, self-made Belgian designer and artist, Arne Quinze, is a creative phenomenon. Effortlessly crossing over between the most diverse disciplines from art, design and architecture, he has established a new invigorating design language that has taken the design world by storm and has instantly become an icon.

Quinze’s genius lies in his ability to fuse polar extremes – passion and chaos with controlled elegance. He masterfully creates immaculate, urbane and polished designs that are balanced with a certain contradicting tension, giving them a refined yet exuberant appearance. He realises his ideas with extraordinary verve and is able to apply them to projects of any scale, whether it be architecture, interior design, urban planning, furniture design, car design or footwear.

This publication is the first monograph to document Arne Quinze’s full creative universe from the past, present and future. Over 40 invigorating design projects crossing over from furniture, interiors and architecture to urban planning, car design and footwear are showcased with lavish photos, personal sketches and incisive text giving insight into Quinze’s cosmos.

Celebrated projects including furniture collections he has created for Quinze & Milan, where he is the creative director, Moroso and concept cars for Lamborghini, colossal wooden Uchronia sculpture at the Burning Man Festival in the Nevada desert, his recent monumental Cityscape sculpture project in Brussels’ Quartier Louise and more are featured.

Over 40 projects are presented with lavish photographs, personal sketches and accompanied by incisive texts giving insight into Quinze’s cosmos. Dazzling but never flamboyant, Quinze is undeniably one of the most ambitious and influential individuals in the creative scene today.

Wonderwall Masamichi Katayama Projects No 2

The 256 pages-book, published by Frame, and distributed by Gestalten includes photographs and sketches documenting more than 40 projects by the designer.

The following information is from Gestalten:

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“TO INTEGRATE CLEAR MESSAGES INTO DESIGNS AND LET EVERYONE FEEL THEM INSTANTANEOUSLY - THAT IS MY JOB. AS I MOVE AMONG MY VARIOUS PROJECTS, I ENJOY EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THE PROCESSES INVOLVED.” - Masamichi Katayama

This publication introduces over forty recent projects by Japan’s hottest retail designer with an extraordinary selection of interior designs for boutiques and retail outlets from high-end luxury spaces to mega stores in Japan, Great Britain, France, the United States and Hong Kong. Masamichi Katayama skillfully integrates diverse interior design elements including light, furniture, material and proportion in a unique and unrivalled fashion that translates into flawless design, comfort and functionality.

Designed by Groovisions, this book vividly demonstrates why Katayama’s work has been considered groundbreaking for interior design since the founding of Wonderwall in 2000. Insightful articles by Tyler Brulé, the Editor in Chief of Monocle, John C. Jay, Wieden+Kennedy’s Creative Director, Rei Kawakubo and many more affirm this appraisal.

Wonderwall: Masamichi Katayama Projects N˚2 presents a brilliant collection of work by an outstanding designer of our time.

Dezeen have got together with architects Denton Corker Marshall to offer readers the chance to win five copies of Non-fictional Narratives, a new book documenting work the practice has carried out since 2000.

The 293-page book comprises photo-essays of the practice’s projects including Webb Bridge, Brisbane Square, the Australian War Memorial, Manchester Civil Justice Centre and Wilson House, taken by photographers Shannon McGrath, John Gollings and Tim Griffith.

The book also includes written essays by Professor Leon van Schaik, Nikos Papastergiadis, Jianfei Zhu and Deyan Sudjic.

This is the second book about the architects to be published; Denton Corker Marshall: Rule Playing and the Ratbag Element was published in 2000.

The five winners will be selected at random and notified by email. Winners’ names will be published in a future edition of our Dezeenmail newsletter.

Here’s some more information from Denton Corker Marshall:

Second major book published on Denton Corker Marshall

International architects Denton Corker Marshall have launched their latest book Non-fictional Narratives. Published by Birkhäuser Verlag Switzerland, this is the second major book on the work of the practice (Denton Corker Marshall: Rule Playing and the Ratbag Element was published in 2000.) The book is comprised of various ‘narratives’ all relating to real ‘non-fictional’ work the practice has carried out since 2000.

The major narrative is provided by Professor Leon van Schaik, whose essay ‘A Tale of Twinned Cities’ examines the recent work of the practice in terms of strong and weak-force architecture. Professor van Schaik argues that Denton Corker Marshall is unlike many of the international ‘brand-name’ architects and he illustrates the effectiveness of the ‘anti-iconic’ way in which Denton Corker Marshall approaches its projects. Professor van Schaik provides detailed analysis of the practice’s recent built work such as the Manchester Civil Justice Centre, Webb Bridge, Brisbane Square, Wilson House, its work at the Australian War Memorial, as well as a discussion on Denton Corker Marshall’s lesser-known projects in China and Indonesia.

Accompanying this text are three photo-essays (another form of ‘narrative’) on the practice’s contribution to the built landscapes of Melbourne, China and Indonesia, aligning with Professor van Schaik’s discussion of slow and fast architecture.

Three additional written essays are included in the book: Nikos Papastergiadis writes on Webb Bridge; Jianfei Zhu provides a text in both English and Chinese on Denton Corker Marshall’s work in China; and Deyan Sudjic writes on Manchester Civil Justice Centre. These individual narratives, complementing that of Professor van Schaik, give thoughtful insights into the way in which these projects fit more generally into the architecture and design canon of the new millennium.

Distributed throughout the book are five detailed photo- essays taken by renowned architectural photographers – Shannon McGrath, John Gollings and Tim Griffith - featuring Webb Bridge, Brisbane Square, the Australian War Memorial, Manchester Civil Justice Centre and Wilson House. The colour photography is enhanced by the large landscape format of the book and the high quality gloss paper.

Graphics by emerystudio, draw the whole book together beautifully. The unusual cover photograph of Chinese construction workers from around 1987 represents a seminal point in the practice’s history: the first significant overseas project for the practice – the Australian Embassy in Beijing.

Key Urban Housing of the Twentieth Century

Dezeen has teamed up with publishers Laurence King to give away five copies of Key Urban Housing of the Twentieth Century by architect and architectural historian Hilary French.

The 240 page book presents photos and drawings of 87 modern residential buildings from the last century, and includes a CD-ROM with digital files of all the drawings featured in the book.

Key Urban Housing of the Twentieth Century:Plans, Sections and Elevationsby Hilary French

Key Urban Housing of the Twentieth Century, by Hilary French and published by Laurence King in September 2008 is the latest title in the successful series Plans, Sections and Elevations, featuring 87 of the most influential modern housing designs of the last 100 years by the best-known architects in the field.

As cities grow upwards and outwards, and the housing market hangs in the balance, urban housing is in the spotlight like never before. This book presents 87 urban housing projects, and explains each with a concise text, photographs, specially created drawings, including site plans and floor plans, sections and elevations where appropriate. The projects are organized into six roughly chronological chapters tracing the history of both public and private housing around the world.

The detailed drawings allow each project to be analyzed in depth, which, alongside the author’s text, will make this an invaluable resource for architects and students. As an added bonus, the book includes a CD-ROM containing digital files of all the drawings featured in the book.

Hilary French, an architect and architectural historian, is Head of the School of Architecture & Design at the Royal College of Art, London. She has written and edited a number of books including Accommodating Change: Innovation in Housing (2002) and New Urban Housing (2006).

Lost Buildings

Dezeen have teamed up with publishers Carlton to give away five copies of Lost Buildings by Jonathan Glancey.

Described as “an elegy to places we will never see,” the 256-page book presents 100 buildings that have either been demolished or only ever existed in imagination.

Glancey examines buildings destroyed by war, natural disasters and political acts alongside those from myth, children’s stories and ambitious designs that were never built.

The buildings included are divided into nine chapters: Lost in Myth, Lost in Peace, Lost in War, Lost Too Soon, Acts of God, Political Losses, Lost in Dreams, Self-destruction and Left on the Drawing Board.

LOST BUILDINGSDEMOLISHED, DESTROYED, IMAGINED, REBORN

by Jonathan Glancey

Published in Hardback by Carlton Books in December 2008, at £30

An exploration of some of the worlds most beautiful buildings, some mythical, some never born and the rest demolished either by nature, politics, self-destruction, or…..

A fascinating study of 100 buildings, some of which have vanished and some which never existed, from ancient times to the recent past.

Reflects the growing awareness of the importance of preserving and restoring existing architectural treasures, as well as rebuilding and reconstruction

The leading writer on architectural history takes you on a magical journey to buildings, that in reality you never can visit!

Have you ever wished that you could have seen King Solomon’s mighty Temple in Jerusalem or climbed to the top of the legendary Tower of Babel? What must it have been like to have paraded up and down the great glass galleries of the Crystal Palace in London in 1851? Why is the Euston Arch, demolished in 1961, still missed? What would buildings described in much loved books have been like if these had existed outside their author’s imaginations?

Imagine walking through the labyrinthine corridors of Mervyn Peake’s mythical Gothic fortress Gormenghast, or visiting Toad Hall. And what of the current trend for reconstructing buildings which were destroyed in wartime or for political reasons? Lost Buildings is an invitation to visit buildings long vanished or those demolished within living history, some by dim politicians, others by war or “acts of God”, that we would pay good money and travel a long way to see, if only they existed, today. It looks, too, at buildings from literature, myth and children’s stories, and some lost opportunities – fantastic, ambitious designs that were never built. There are countless buildings that remain vivid in the collective memory, whether they were once real or were only ever imagined. Lost Buildings brings these together for the reader’s curiosity and delight.

Above: Euston Pillars12th April 1954: The Neo-Classical entrance arch to London’s Euston station which was demolished in 1962.(Photo by L. Blandford/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

Jonathan Glancey is Architecture and Design Editor of the Guardian. He is a frequent commentator on radio and television. His previous publications include Carlton’s Modern Architecture, The Car and The Train, and Spitfire (Atlantic)- all bestsellers.